What is the right boat to sail around the world? If you google on the topic you can easily spend many hours reading many different blogs with just as many opinions. Reality is there are a lot of boats fit for the job and the decision which to pick are mostly driven by personal preference for size, luxury, style and the available budget. For us it was key to have proper living space both in and outside, as we knew we wanted to travel with young kids. At the same time the boat should sail and handle well in various conditions. We create a list of must haves like proper headspace, well-proportioned water and diesel tanks, safety and communication equipment, etc. In our journey to find the optimal boat we quickly became experts in online searching and tracked quiet a few websites on a daily base. This is already an exiting part of making your dream reality as with each both you can imagine sailing it into a beautiful atoll with white beaches and blue seas. Every time you find a potential interesting boat you perform your online due diligence and try to learn as much about the make and type as you can and when something looks promising you schedule a visit. Visiting different boats is good way to get sharpen the wish / must have list.
We found her
What she looked like
And than, on one of the first real cold and snowy winter days of the year, we drove to Medemblik a small city along the IJsselmeer. Most boats were out of the water and only a hand full was still floating. The jetty’s were covered with snow and as we carefully made our way to the brokers office we already got a glimpse of her. My wife pinched my hand the moment she saw the boat, we both felt the same thing right there that moment. I had fallen in love quickly with many boats we had visited but Froukje had always been the one that brought me back to reality, ensuring we didn’t give up on our wish list. After a cup of tea and getting some background info on the boat we finally got the opportunity to get on board. Although it was cold and the boat clearly hadn’t been used for a while we immediately saws its potential. We fell in the love with the large salon with all the daylight and the bright oak wood. The amount of space was beyond our dreams. On the way back home we were trying to be more rational about it, but we found it hard to put our love for the boat aside. Not long after we had negotiated a deal and went back to the harbor to have the boat inspected in order to confirm the ship was in good condition. Ones the ship had been taken out of the water it became clear there was osmosis in the hull. Although this obviously disappointment for both the owner and us, we were able to renegotiate the deal to buy the ship and transfer ownership.
Maiden voyage
Icy waters during maiden trip
On April 1st, not a joke, we went to Medemblik to pick her up. We first met with the previous owner who showed us around on the entire ship and gave a lot of tips and advice, he used to boat for off shore sailing courses so the instructions were very clear. We left that afternoon with ice on the entry poles of the harbor, it promised to be a cold trip. Although the sun was out we were going against the chilly wind and without a sprayhood you quickly cool down. Despite this cold we felt amazing as we were sailing on our own boat, only on the motor for now but still… We crossed the IJsselmeer towards Stavoren, went through the lock and cooked some dinner. Our maiden voyage was a fact and we knew we made the right decision. The months after we spend on cleaning the boat and fixing some items that required immediate attention. As the spring and summer progressed and the weather became better and we started to sail with her more and more and experience how well she handled under sail. During the summer we spend three weeks sailing around the country.
The name
What she looks like now…
When we boat her she was named Fulmarus. As we had to renew and repaint the entire hull this gave us the opportunity to change the name to Isis. This is a name that better fits us and makes it more our own boat. We obviously followed the sailors tradition to place coin under the mast when we change the name. Isis is a name that origins from the ancient Egyptian and Greek world. She was the goddess fertility, magic and love. Later she also became the patron goddess of sailors. This made is for us the perfect name for our ship. Unfortunately more recently there is a negative association with this name, believe us we’ve already heard most jokes. Changing the name again isn’t an option for us for the following reasons:
- Changing the name feels like recognizing and we don’t want to recognize such an organization
- We would like to show the beautiful and loveful side of life
- Isis is an ancient name and this can’t be changed and forgotten about
The changes
In the years after we made many adjustments to the boat in preparation of our trip
- Osmosis treatment
- Replace matrasses
- New Genua and Gennaker
- New headsail
- New Raymarine navigation instruments
- Replacement of teak
- New seating in the salon
- New windows
- Installed a furler
- Installed a sprayhood
- Installation of Raymarine autopilot
- Replaced hatches
- Installed Solar panels and wind generator + support construction
- New foulwater pomp
- New anchor chain and windlas (Lewmar)
- New stove and oven
- New water heater, working on shore power and heat of the motor
- New refrigeration system Webasto
- Had a bimini installed
- Replaced life raft